Smiley Guy Designs

Hello my friends! Hope 2013 is treating everyone well....I must say that I've been very happy with the weather in the mid-West. I heard on the radio a few days ago that Wisconsin is about a FOOT short of where we usually are this time of the year. We've only had 1.3" of snow so far this season and we're usually over 12" of snow. Oh well....you won't hear me complaining!

As I've mentioned in a previous post I was selected to be a Design Team member for an awesome non-profit organization called Sunshine Mail Foundation. It's an honor to be on the team with all the wonderfully creative people and it's also great to 'give back' especially when it comes to children.

The Sunshine Mail Foundation provides children in need comfort, support and joy through free Sunshine Mail Care Packages. Sunshine Mail is filled with handmade cards, care essentials and other age appropriate items and delivered to children in need including hospitals, homeless shelters and foster care.

The Sunshine Mail Foundation also has a challenge blog that I get to participate in as a member of the design team. The January 15th theme challenge is 'Snow Much Fun' and is sponsored by
This challenge will run through January 31st. We hope you join us by linking up your fun creations for a chance to win images from Bugaboo. In order to be eligible you must send your card to the Sunshine Mail Foundation

Follow this link to see more information from the and to link your very own card creation Sunshine Mail Challenge Blog

Here is the card I made for the challenge.  I love this Bugaboo image of a sock monkey on skies! I colored him with COPICS (sorry, colored him a while back and don't have the numbers), punched out some snowflakes and used some Stickles to make the snowflakes sparkle!  The patterned paper is from SEI but it was from my scrap pile so I don't have the name. 


As far as sending in 'Happy Mail' for the kids, I actually went through the stash of cards I have on hand and pulled out all the ones I think would be enjoyed by children.  The age of the children vary in age from really young (age 1) to older kids (age 11). Here is a picture of the cards I'm sending in for this month.  I know what you're thinking.....you only see one card that would appeal to a younger child....well, I have to go through my stamp stash and see what I have for young girls and boys - next month I will be focusing on cards for the younger peeps!!!!


I hope you enjoy my little skiing sock monkey and will check back next month to see what the February 15th challenge holds!!! 

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again soon!

Heidi

Happy New Year my friends!  I hope everyone rang in the new year with family, friends and tons of fun!  My evening was quiet. which I happen to like.  I enjoyed some adult beverages in the quiet of my own home so no worrying about drinking and driving. I had some little party snacks as well and once I watched the ball drop on TV in Times Square I was pretty much out like a light!!!

I grew up in Florida and everything seems geared towards the Eastern Time zone.  And New Years Eve (NYE) celebrations are no exception.  All the national TV shows (who besides me is going to miss Dick Clark?) represent the East Coast so when it's midnight everyone hoots and hollers and kisses and sings and just goes nuts!   When I moved to the midwest (Central Time zone) I had to start subtracting that hour difference from Eastern Time.  To date, when I think about when a show is on I think of what time it came on in Florida and subtract an hour.  If it was a prime time show that came on at 10pm then it comes on at 9pm here.  Can you see where I'm going with this?   When it's midnight on the East coast, it's only 11pm in the Midwest.  So for the past 14 years now, while watching the celebration from Times Square it's only 11pm where I am....it's so sad to see the confetti, the kissing, the singing, etc. and know it's not the new year yet.  While there may be local shows from say, Navy Pier in Chicago, it just doesn't have the same fan fare.

But on the flip side (I know, there are always two sides to every issue) - in Florida I watched the news at 11pm and couldn't go to bed until 11:30 or so.  But in Kenosha, the news comes on at 10pm so I can watch and be in bed by 10.30.

Okay, enough about that!!!  I have some good news and some sort of disappointing news to share with everyone.

(1) I've already posted this on Facebook - I was selected to be part of the Caring Design Team for an organization called Sunshine Mail. 

Their mission is provide children in need comfort, support and joy through free Sunshine Mail care packages. Sunshine Mail is filled with handmade cards, care essentials and other age appropriate items and delivered to children in hospitals, homeless shelters and in foster care.

I'll be updating my blog periodically with cards and other information all relating to Sunshine Mail.

(2) I've also been selected to be a guest designer for the Red Carpet Studio card design team.  It's only for a month and my month is March.  So from March 1 - March 31 I'll be creating two card projects that fit the current challenge requirements and posting them on my blog.  I'm pretty excited about this and can't wait to find out (in February) what the challenge will be.

Now for the disappointing news.....I submitted a couple of cards to CardMaker Magazine for their Fall 2013 issue and neither one was selected for publication!!  Oh no.....say it ain't so!!  Oh well, sometimes you win and sometimes you don't.  Since they weren't selected I can share them with you now.

The first one used a die from PaperTrey Ink to die cut the actual pumpkin card and then a separate die to die cut the pumpkin slices.  The category for the card was to use texture - so I used textured cardstock from the Two Scoops collection from Bazzill Basics Paper.  The sentiment is also a die from PaperTrey Ink.

 

The second card used patterned paper from the Apple Cider collection from Bo Bunny.  The same die set created the 'Blessed' sentiment as the 'Thankful' one above. 

 

 

That about does it for me today.  I hope everyone has a great 2013!  Thanks for stopping and I hope to see you again soon.

Heidi